


Purity and Corruption

by tptplayer5701



Series: "Mind Games"-verse [15]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dragon Kagami Tsurugi | Ryuko, Dragon Miraculous, Friendship, Kwami & Miraculous Lore, Magic, New Miraculous, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Secret Identity, Snake Luka Couffaine | Viperion, Snake Miraculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24591355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptplayer5701/pseuds/tptplayer5701
Summary: A "Mind Games"-verse "Spring Break" storyViperion landed on one side of the raft and took a single step forward to regain his balance. At the same moment, Ryoku rematerialized on the opposite side of the raft, her sword out and pointing at the man in the middle of the raft. The raft rocked back and forth a couple times as it adjusted to their added weight, causing Ryoku to stumble once and nearly tumble off the deck.The man in question looked around forty years old and wore a black suit coat with a grey dress shirt underneath and a black cape hanging from his shoulders. A gold eight-pointed star pendant with a red ruby set in the center hung around his neck from a black ribbon. A black-handled sword was fastened to his belt.“Who are you?” Ryoku demanded. “Were you responsible for this fog?”The man fell to his knees and held his hands out toward them. “Please!” he begged. “Don’t let her find me!”
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Luka Couffaine & Kagami Tsurugi, Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Max Kanté & Kagami Tsurugi
Series: "Mind Games"-verse [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666807
Comments: 29
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place simultaneous with ["The Press Conference"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24458197/chapters/59024272) and ["Monkey Games."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24495115/chapters/59127097)

Viperion strummed contemplatively on his lyre, considering the melody for his next song. He sat with his back resting against the guard wall on the apartment building roof that they had chosen for their patrol location. To his left, the Seine stretched out in both directions, with two of the bridges in sight. He watched a pair of tour boats make their way slowly down the river. In the foreground, he could see the _Liberty_ resting easily in its slip. Although the road ran below them, he could tune out the car noises easily and focus instead on the gentle breeze rustling through the tree leaves and the delicate sounds of the river. It was a peaceful location, one that he had discovered months earlier on a slow patrol night, and which he still returned to on occasion when he needed to work through a creative slump.

“Shouldn’t you be watching our assigned section?” his companion asked, rousing him from his reverie.

“Music helps me focus,” he replied, smiling up at her easily. “My music lets me read people’s feelings and emotions, to tell when they are upset or happy. Like now.” He played an excited tune that grew somber near the end. “I can tell you are antsy while we wait for something to happen. You like action more than sitting around. But I also sense loneliness in you, that you don’t want this to end because you don’t want to be alone.”

Ryoku was silent for a minute. “Do you have any idea how disconcerting it is when you do that?”

The communicator in Viperion’s ear clicked once, cutting off his reply. “Check in, people.”

“This is Viperion,” he responded immediately, keying the communicator. “Everything is quiet along the Seine.” He tuned out the rest of the conversation as his attention was drawn back to Ryoku, who had drawn her sword and was fidgeting with it in her grip.

“It is probably going to _stay_ quiet,” Ryoku observed, arching an eyebrow at him while testing an offhand strike.

“You think they are overreacting?”

“Probably.” She nodded. “You know how Marinette gets. The girl’s one of my best friends, but she is too good at assuming the worst.”

Viperion frowned contemplatively. “I suppose so,” he finally agreed. “But have you seen Rena Rouge’s wall? It looks like a spider-web, with everything this… _Lynchpin_ has his hands in.” He shrugged. “If I thought an evil mastermind was targeting me or my friends, I’d probably go a little overboard, too.”

“Why do you think I’m here?” she retorted, pirouetting around an imaginary enemy and thrusting with her sword. She stopped suddenly, cocking her head.

Viperion frowned and remembered the voices speaking in the communicator, just in time to hear Rena Rouge say, “We had all the pieces.”

Ryoku whirled around, anger flashing in her eyes, glaring out over the river, staring at nothing. “ _You_ had all the pieces,” she retorted bitingly. “ _You_ did. And you neglected to share with the rest of us. And our friends suffered because _you_ didn’t want to share! I–”

Viperion sprang to his feet, crossed the distance between them, and put a finger to her lips, cutting her off mid-rant. She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth as though to bite his finger. He shook his head as Carapace cut in on the communicator.

“Easy there, Ryoku,” Carapace told them. “How do you keep a secret? By telling nobody. That’s what kept us safe before we defeated Hawk Moth: if any of us were Akumatized – and all of us were at least once, remember – we didn’t know who Ladybug was so we couldn’t target her directly. Anansi and Rena were keeping this investigation as close to the vest as possible so Lynchpin wouldn’t realize they were on to him.”

King Monkey interjected, but Viperion tuned it out. He looked at Ryoku’s angry expression and quickly pulled his finger back, putting both hands up in a placating gesture. “I know you’re upset for our friends,” he told her. “I am, too. But what’s done is done. All we can do now is look to the future. And help them out _now_.”

Ryoku nodded, frowning. She opened her mouth as though to say something, but shut it again when they heard Rena Rouge’s voice over their communicators. “Heads up, guys. Queen Bee just gave the signal for Adrien to start the press conference. Call out anything unusual.”

Viperion affixed his lyre to its spot on the back of his suit, stood up, and joined Ryoku, looking out over the city in opposite directions. He allowed his eyes to wander over the streets and buildings on the city-side of their perch. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell if any of those present even knew the press conference was happening, let alone were watching or listening to it live. When he had expressed as much at their planning meeting earlier in the week, Rena Rouge had simply stated that, “Lynchpin will be watching it. Count on that.” So here he was, standing beside his stoic partner, watching ordinary people go about their ordinary lives.

“I wish we knew _what_ we were looking for,” Ryoku muttered under her breath.

“Anything unusual…” Viperion responded. He tensed as a car approached a red light at high speed. On instinct he reached for his wrist to activate Second Chance, only changing his mind at the last minute when the car screeched to a halt.

“Does a random fog bank rolling down the Seine from upstream count as unusual?”

“There is fog in the morning sometimes,” Viperion replied offhandedly, “but it’s a little late in the day for it. And there wasn’t any fog this morning. Why?”

“Look.” Ryoku pointed down at the river to the right of their position.

Following her gaze, Viperion could see thick fog covering the entire river, stopping in an even plane around 15 meters above the water level, moving slowly downriver. The fog stopped in a sheer wall where it reached the riverbank. The boats that had been motoring upriver disappeared into the fog. Tuning out the traffic noise from below and focusing on the river itself, Viperion couldn’t hear a sound from within the fogbank.

He narrowed his eyes. “That definitely doesn’t look natural,” he told her. “We’d better call it in.”

Ryoku nodded and tapped the button on her communicator. She looked confused. “I… I think we have something unusual by the Seine. Viperion and I are going to investigate.”

“Let us know if you find anything,” came back Rena Rouge’s response.

“How should we do this?” Ryoku asked, tensing her legs and dropping to a crouch. She held her sword loosely in her right hand.

Viperion thought for a moment. “This could be anything… I’ll start my timer when we get closer,” he decided.

Without waiting for a response, he leapt off the roof, slinging his lyre over a telephone wire and riding it over the street like a zip-line. On the other side he let go with one hand and dropped to the ground. He rolled to his feet and took off at a sprint the moment he landed, with Ryoku landing a couple meters in front of him and matching his pace. The two heroes tore across the park and reached the water’s edge just ahead of the line of fog.

“Second Chance!” Viperon shouted, charging his bracelet.

1\. “I’ll try lightning first,” Ryoku told him. She held her sword up and shouted “Lightning Dragon!” A lightning bolt shot down from the clear sky and struck her sword, which was encompassed by crackling yellow-white lightning. She turned toward the fog and brought her sword down to point at the closest edge. With a thunderclap the lightning arced from the sword into the fog. The fog remained in place, but a moment later they heard an explosion followed by a chorus of screams. Smoke billowed up above the fog.

Viperion glanced over at Ryoku, who stared back at him with an expression of horror on her face. Without thinking about it, he wound the bracelet back to the beginning of the timer.

2\. “I’ll try–”

“–lightning first,” Viperion finished, giving her a rueful grin.

“Don’t tell me,” she replied, raising an eyebrow at him, “it didn’t work the first time?”

“… You could say that. Try wind and see if you can blow the fog out of the way.”

“Right… Wind Dragon!” Ryoku pointed her sword at the fog and spun the tip in a tight circle. A tornado formed from the crossguard, shaped by the spinning sword blade, and cut a hole into the fog. Ryoku shifted her aim, moving the tornado in an arc. The tour boat in front of them was pushed sideways and nearly capsized before Ryoku lifted her sword and stopped the tornado.

“That explains the explosion,” Viperion observed, nodding to himself.

Ryoku turned to him, eyes widening in shock. “Wait, _what_ ex–”

3\. “I’ll try–”

“–lightning first,” Viperion finished, releasing his bracelet and smirking at Ryoku.

“Don’t tell me,” they both said together. Ryoku stared at him for a beat before punching him in the shoulder and shaking her head, chuckling.

“How many times?” she asked next, concern in her eyes.

“This is just the third time,” he assured her. “Lightning didn’t work, wind tunnel didn’t work because there’s a tour boat right there.” He pointed a little to their right. “Try going wind and blowing it all away.”

Ryoku shrugged. Turning toward him and smirking, she declared, “Wisdom comes from experience, so I bow to your greater wisdom!” She held her arms out and shouted, “Wind Dragon!”

At once she vanished in a puff of air and flash of light. Viperion held a hand up to cover his eyes as the wind around him picked up. It instantly ramped up to gale-force, blowing across the river and pushing the fog in front of it. The tour boat rocked sideways as the wind blew past it to either side. Viperion took a few steps back, dropped into a sprinter’s stance, and raced at the river, taking a flying leap as he reached the edge. He landed on his feet on the tour boat’s roof, ran across it without slowing down, and leapt into space. Beyond the tour boat he could see a pair of smaller boats as well as a wooden raft with a single passenger holding a pole.

“There!” he shouted, pointing at the raft. He held his arms out and twisted his body to face where he had pointed. He felt the wind pick up behind him, pushing him in the direction of the raft. He pulled his arms in, bent his knees, and braced for the landing.

Viperion landed on one side of the raft and took a single step forward to regain his balance. At the same moment, Ryoku rematerialized on the opposite side of the raft, her sword out and pointing at the man in the middle of the raft. The raft rocked back and forth a couple times as it adjusted to their added weight, causing Ryoku to stumble once and nearly tumble off the deck.

The man in question looked around forty years old and wore a black suit coat with a grey dress shirt underneath and a black cape hanging from his shoulders. A gold eight-pointed star pendant with a red ruby set in the center hung around his neck from a black ribbon. A black-handled sword was fastened to his belt.

“Who are you?” Ryoku demanded. “Were you responsible for this fog?”

The man fell to his knees and held his hands out toward them. “Please!” he begged. “Don’t let her find me!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To avoid any confusion, Viperion and Ryoku do not know each other’s identities (I kind of showed that in “First Impressions and Second Chances”), although they (along with almost all the other Heroes know both Marinette and Adrien’s identities.

Ryoku’s eyes narrowed, taking in the scene. The raft had appeared to be cobbled together when Ryoku first saw it from the air, but up close she could see that some care had been put into its construction. In addition to the pole which the man had dropped when they confronted him, a second pole was stuck through a ring into the water to act as a makeshift rudder. Other rings around the edges showed where a tarp might be fastened to provide shelter from the sun or rain.

The stranger sat down on a steamer trunk to one side of the raft, his eyes darting between the two heroes as if uncertain whom to address. Finally he turned toward Viperion and repeated, “Please, don’t let her find me!”

Viperion seemed unsure what to say, but quickly recovered. “Who are you and what are you afraid of?” he asked, folding his arms.

The stranger gestured toward a crate across the raft from him. “I’m afraid that’s not an easy question to answer,” he admitted. “Would you care to sit down?”

Viperion glanced over at Ryoku and gave her a subtle nod toward the crate. She gave him a look of annoyance before acquiescing. She sheathed her sword, sat down, and fixed her narrowed eyes on the stranger, letting him see her hand resting on the handle of her sword. Beside her, Viperion shifted his weight easily with the gentle motion of the raft.

As if coming to a difficult decision, the man began, “I am called the ‘Night Bat.’ My abilities, I suppose, come from the same place as yours – if the outfits are anything to go by. When I came of age, my mother gave me the Miraculous of the Bat, which grants the power of Corruption.”

“‘Corruption,’” Ryoku repeated, deadpan. She raised an eyebrow dubiously, glancing at Viperion.

Viperion shrugged. “The miraculous doesn’t make the man,” he reminded her. “If a miraculous is a weapon, then it can be used either for good or for evil. Look at Cat Noir: his is the Miraculous of Destruction, and you don’t get more heroic and selfless than the Cat.”

Ryoku considered a moment, then nodded in acknowledgement. “So you received it from your mother,” she stated, turning back toward the Night Bat. “Where did she receive it from?”

“The Bat Miraculous has been passed down in my family for many generations,” he replied, shrugging. “Bella, my Kwami, says that it was lost in the fall of Atlantis. The family legend is that our ancestor discovered it buried in a cave while playing hide-and-seek. He touched it, and Bella appeared. At first he hid the miraculous and the awesome power it contained. However, shortly after this discovery, his home was attacked by a hideous demon which wanted to claim the miraculous as its own and use the power of Corruption for just that: to plunge the world into chaos, darkness, and despair.

“The demon struck at the time of the harvest, and the village crops were covered in blight and washed away. The demon destroyed everything that it touched – crops, buildings, even people. My ancestor’s parents and siblings were among the first victims of the demon’s rage. In revenge he fought this demon and drove it away, but could not defeat it. After the attack, he was accused of causing all the destruction and forced to flee. He searched for the demon the rest of his life, hoping that he might reclaim his honor by destroying the demon, and so be avenged and return home vindicated. They fought several more times, but neither could truly defeat the other. At the end of his life, my ancestor passed the miraculous down to his young son.”

“And so… your family has had this miraculous for centuries?” Viperion asked, brows furrowed.

Night Bat nodded. “We have hidden in the shadows, protecting the world from that ancestral demon, preserving our miraculous from falling into the demon’s hands. We have tracked the demon from Japan to Britain, from Russia to South Africa. My grandmother even followed the demon all the way to America. They fought a pitched battle near New York City before she drove the demon back into the Atlantic.”

“You have been fighting this same demon for centuries, across continents? How has this remained a secret?” Something about this story wasn’t adding up for Ryoku.

“I don’t know what to tell you, friends.” Night Bat frowned. “There have been rumors and stories about our battles that appeared around the world. I remember my mother showed me a painting from somewhere in the east depicting one such battle.”

Viperion put a hand on Ryoku’s shoulder. Ryoku bit back her next question, annoyed at his interference. When they worked together, Viperion occasionally acted as though he was in charge, rather than them being partners. Admittedly, he had received his miraculous before Hawk Moth’s defeat, while she had not received hers until almost six weeks later. And his miraculous did force him to become far more observant, to recognize patterns and anticipate the effects of specific changes to the sequence of events. When they fought, she had learned to obey his instructions without hesitation, to trust him to guide them to the best possible outcome. However, his miraculous and their partnership was something of a two-edged sword. Occasionally he would lose track of which information she knew during Second Chance – a failing which occasionally translated into their other interactions.

“What is this demon you are so afraid of?” Viperion asked.

“It is a hideous beast made from storm and wave,” replied Night Bat, with a shiver. “It appears white as light, with wings shifting to gold and multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth in its mouth. Most often it appears near water as it displays power over all forms of water, but that is not always the case. It can stir up waves to epic proportions, causing untold damage to houses and villages near the water’s edge. That… that is what happened the last time we fought. A cruise ship was nearly thrown onto the beach in Italy; it was only by pure luck that I drove the monster away before the ship was destroyed.”

“Where does this demon come from?”

“It is conjured up,” he replied, staring at them earnestly, “by magic.” Ryoku scoffed, and he chuckled. “I know, you must think me insane. But I have followed the demon from one continent to another, and every time we fight, I see the same woman in red and blue standing on the shore, either before or after the battle. She must be controlling the beast. That… or she _becomes_ the demon.”

“You are fighting a magic demon,” Ryoku deadpanned.

“You doubt me, friend?”

“The miraculous are one thing, but this is something entirely different. You expect us to believe this magic is real?”

“You already saw the proof of this magic: the fog that you disrupted,” Night Bat replied, chuckling. “That was not created by the miraculous; that fog was conjured by me.” He put a hand to his chest. At a dubious look from Ryoku, he continued, “The Bat Miraculous gives its user some inclination toward what you might call ‘magic of the dark.’ That is how I cloaked myself in fog to evade detection on my way into the city. It is how I have survived so long when hunted by this… _demon_.”

“Right…” Ryoku frowned at that. “So what brings you to Paris?”

“I am following the woman. I will face her, and this will be the end of our centuries-old conflict.”

Viperion’s tone turned cold. “You wish to battle a sea demon on the Seine?” he demanded. “What of Paris? What of the people who live and work on the Seine? Would you sacrifice them to end your feud?”

Shaking his head ruefully Night Bat answered, “I do not wish for any of that to happen. I wish only to end this fight before something worse happens. Every fight with the demon, there is the possibility for worse to happen, so I must stop the demon, and the woman controlling it, before it destroys everything. I hope your city survives, but I do not see another way.”

“We can’t allow you to endanger our city,” Viperion told him, folding his arms.

Night Bat sighed. Then he looked up at them hopefully. “What if you help me? Will you help me face this demon, defeat it, and save your city?”

Ryoku looked up at Viperion, who was staring at her with a troubled look in his eyes. She slowly nodded and assured him, “Between the two of us, I think we can stop the demon and protect the city.”

“Very well,” Viperion said, still frowning. “We’re in.”

* * *

It turned out that Viperion knew of an abandoned boat along the Seine where Night Bat could stay while they searched for the demon and the woman who controlled it. Viperion easily helped guide the raft downstream, poling it toward the bank several slips down from the _Liberty_ , the Couffaines’ houseboat – she recognized it from the Kitty Section rehearsal Adrien had brought her to, a little over a year ago. With a practiced hand, Viperion lashed the raft to the stern of a small houseboat that sat low in the water with a small cabin located near the stern. While Viperion made the raft secure, Ryoku helped Night Bat lift his steamer trunk to the boat’s deck and carry it into the cabin.

A quick search of the cabin showed that the previous occupants hadn’t left much behind. Night Bat pushed his trunk into the space beneath the bed which had been built into the far wall. The trunk out of the way, he collapsed onto the stool sitting in one corner in front of a small writing desk to survey the space. The near wall had a countertop built into it with a few drawers underneath. Searching them, Ryoku found a can opener in one drawer, along with a half-dozen unopened cans of spam. The whole place was covered in dust.

“Sorry it’s nothing special,” Viperion apologized, joining them in the cramped space a moment later. “A friend of my mom used to live here but moved inland a couple years ago to get away from the Akuma attacks along the water – I don’t think he appreciated Captain Hardrock… He never found a buyer, and I guess he stopped trying. My… _house_ isn’t too far from here so I will be close by if anything happens. We can help you find something more permanent after all of this is over – _if_ you wish to stay.”

Night Bat looked around the room appreciatively and smiled. “This certainly beats sleeping on my raft,” he observed. “A proper sleeping mat will do my back good for a few nights.”

Ryoku rose. “I will return in a couple hours with some supplies,” she told him. “The food in this boat is severely lacking. Is there anything else you need?”

After considering for a moment, Night Bat slowly said, “There _is_ one thing… blood sausage, if I may make a request. That is Bella’s preferred food, and I have, alas, run low on it.”

“Very well,” she replied. “I will drop off the food shortly, and then tomorrow Viperion and I will help you search for this demon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for the Bat Miraculous (as well as the other original miraculous that appears in this story) came from Toshiro of the Eternal Dream (on FF.net). He had the idea for the concepts and animals as well as a previous Bat Miraculous user; the abilities, weapons, appearances, lore… everything else was my idea.


	3. Chapter 3

After Ryoku left, Viperion grabbed the broom from the corner and helped Night Bat sweep the dust out of the cabin. While Night Bat unpacked his trunk to settle in, Viperion drew a bucket of water from the river to give the decks a quick scrub. For the first year after Mario had left, he or Juleka had stopped by at least once a week to scrub the decks, check for leaks, and make sure everything was still shipshape while Mario searched for a buyer. Of course, no one was interested in buying an old houseboat on the Seine, particularly during the height of Hawk Moth’s reign of terror. After that first year, as the process dragged on and Kitty Section started to take off, their checks had become less frequent. Since he had become far more involved with the Heroes of Paris this year, his opportunities to check on the boat had dropped to almost become nonexistent. And now that Juleka was in training as a hero also… he was certain that _no one_ would notice if Night Bat was staying on the abandoned boat.

He picked idly at a splinter on the railing (he really should have sanded that off months ago), staring out over the river while thinking about the harmony line for his newest composition. Hearing a creak from the cabin, he turned to find Night Bat trying to shut the door quietly. “I’ll bring over some oil in the morning,” he called.

Night Bat nodded and joined him in leaning against the railing. Without looking at him, Viperion turned his ears toward the other hero. He had a song in his heart, and Viperion could only just start to hear it, muffled as though it were being played on the other side of the river, reflecting off the water. Viperion took his lyre and plucked the first couple notes, listening to the progression. He adjusted a note. It sounded modal.

“So you are one of the famous Heroes of Paris?” Night Bat asked.

Viperion could hear the curiosity in his voice, veiled as though trying to hide it. He nodded and gave the other a small smile. “We are. I am Viperion; my partner is Ryoku.”

“From the news stories I have seen, there are so many of you Heroes here. And you all hold miraculous?” He gave Viperion an appraising look. “I have encountered very few other miraculous in my travels. I never even _imagined_ such a wealth of miraculous might be found in one place!”

Viperion chuckled. “Not all of us have miraculous, but most of us do,” he replied, strumming a couple chords. “I’m sure you saw the news coverage last summer about Hawk Moth, the villain who terrorized Paris for two years.” Seeing his companion nod, he continued, “He was abusing a miraculous, seeking to steal the two most powerful miraculous for his own purpose. The only way for us to stop him was by using miraculous of our own.”

Night Bat gave him a look of mild curiosity. “And this… Hawk Moth… wished to steal two of the miraculous you were using? But why?”

“Not really my secret to tell.” Viperion shrugged. He plucked another couple notes. “Ladybug and Cat Noir fought him and took away his miraculous, so it doesn’t really matter at this point. He’s in jail, and his miraculous is now in good hands.”

“‘Ladybug and Cat Noir’… I recognize the names. Did you say before that Cat Noir’s is the Miraculous of Destruction? That is a dangerous ability!” Night Bat chuckled. “Perhaps even more so than Corruption!”

Viperion nodded. He could sense the loneliness from the other man guiding the conversation. “It certainly is; Cat Noir has the power to utterly destroy anything he touches, something he has even used on the Eiffel Tower before! And yet, he knows how to use that power properly, for good.”

“Of all the heroes on our team, Cat Noir may be the most selfless.”

Night Bat jumped back from the railing in surprise at Ryoku’s unannounced return. Viperion, who had recognized her song when she arrived, merely turned around to smile at her.

“I bought a variety of food for you,” she went on, placing a pile of grocery bags on the deck. “Here are your blood sausages, as well as some canned fruits and vegetables, bread, and the like. I didn’t see anything to cook on in the cabin, so I got a propane stove as well. There is a store two blocks down if you need anything more.”

“Thank you,” Night Bat said, reaching into his pocket. “How much do I owe you?”

She shook her head. “Help us prevent this demon from destroying our city, and you can consider _us_ in _your_ debt.”

“Very well.”

“So do we have a plan yet?” Ryoku asked, glancing at Viperion. “Planning ahead is kind of _your_ thing, after all.”

Viperion frowned and strummed the lyre in contemplation. “The first question to answer,” he decided, “is whether or not to tell Ladybug. They are leaving tomorrow, and we don’t really have anything to tell her. We could find this demon; we could not.”

Ryoku raised an eyebrow. “She will want to know,” she told him. “She would be upset if we left her out of the loop. Remember Lynchpin?”

“Right.” Viperion nodded and hit a button on the side of his lyre. A screen spread across the body, and he typed a quick message. He received a reply almost instantly. “She says to look into it on our own but that Pegasus and Queen Bee can back us up if we need it. If anything happens, Pegasus can portal them back easy enough.” He shrugged. “So that’s what we do starting tomorrow: we split up the city to search for this woman, and confront her if we find her. Night Bat, can you give us a better description of this woman?”

Sadly Night Bat shook his head. “Alas, I cannot. I have only seen her from a distance. She wears blue and red and carries some sort of bladed weapon. That is all I know. I wish I could give you more.”

“Someone wearing red and blue,” Ryoku repeated deadpan. “I guess we’ll just have to hope we get lucky and the rest of Paris is wearing brown tomorrow!”

Viperion stifled a snort, instead nodding to Ryoku and saying, “We will leave you to rest after this long day. If anything happens, I will be close by – just send up a flare and I will be right over. Otherwise, we will see you tomorrow.”

Once they were off the boat, the two heroes jumped to the top of the closest building, where Ryoku immediately turned on Viperion. He could immediately sense something off in her expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked patiently.

She frowned. “I don’t know. There’s just something… wrong. I can’t put my finger on it but something about him doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s just that his is the Miraculous of Corruption.” She drew her sword and spun it around between her hands, testing her grip with each twirl.

“That he has the Miraculous of Corruption doesn’t make him or it evil,” he reminded her with a shrug. “The Butterfly did great harm in Hawk Moth’s hands; Impératrice Pourpre has done great good since receiving it.”

She scoffed. “A mysterious miraculous holder shows up in an unnatural fog bank talking about magic and demons and that doesn’t raise any red flags for you, Snake Skin?? Nothing about that conversation suggested he might be hiding something?”

“Oh, he is certainly hiding something,” Viperion agreed, fingering the strings on his lyre. He laughed gently at Ryoku’s startled expression. “But then again, we are, too – unless you plan on revealing your identity – to him _or_ me – any time soon. For now, I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don’t want to jump to conclusions and doom Paris – or even the world!”

“Don’t tell me that you are completely on board with him!”

“I’m not going to tell him _everything_ about us,” Viperion retorted, slapping his lyre. The chord it generated rang discordantly – it sounded diminished. “I’m not going to trust him all the way just yet. But I’m asking you to trust me on this.”

“You want me to trust you, and you are hardly listening to my concerns! Fine, I’ll follow your lead,” she replied, folding her arms, still troubled. “But tell me, what is his heart song? Does it sound… right?”

Viperion hummed contemplatively before beginning. He plucked a few notes, damped a couple strings and strummed, and finished it with a couple of chords. He frowned, considered, and tried again. The melody came out rough, garbled, frenetic. It sounded confused, disordered, even like there was an undertone of corruption. Modal – Phrygian, if he was playing it correctly.

“That is the best I can do,” he admitted, staring at the lyre in frustration. “I need to know someone very well before I can truly hear the song of their heart. I can tell that his song is unusual, and I hear the dissonance in it, but that might just be lack of clarity.”

“So how can you hear mine so well?”

He shrugged. “I guess we’ve just worked together so often since you began as a hero that I’ve been able to hear it well. That’s sort of where I am with all of the other heroes, at least the ones I’ve worked with a lot.”

She groaned and threw her hands out to the sides. “So what are we supposed to do now?”

“For now, we don’t have a choice: we have to take the threat seriously and work with Night Bat to stop this demon-thing. After?” He shrugged. “We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Kagami! Do not forget your tutor will be here at eight!”

“I understand, Mother,” Kagami replied, rolling her eyes.

Her mother rapped her cane against the table leg. “None of that, young lady! I will expect regular progress reports. Your Calculus grade has suffered this semester, and we cannot have that.”

“Of course, Mother.” Kagami bit back an angry retort. In anyone else’s book, a “99” would not be considered “suffering grades,” but nothing short of perfection would satisfy her mother. Until that year, a 99 would not have satisfied Kagami, either, for that matter. Of course, that was before she made her second friend in Marinette, received the Dragon Miraculous, and met the other Heroes of Paris. What a rebel Kagami had become under their influence: sneaking out for late-night rendezvous with “masked men,” running headlong into danger… about the only aspect of Kagami’s “rebellion” that _might_ meet her mother’s approval was the amount of extra fencing practice she received with her miraculous! If her mother knew what a “bad influence” Marinette was on her, she would probably ban Kagami from seeing her ever again – up-and-coming fashion icon and “valuable client” or not!

When she had told Marinette about the tutors her mother planned to bring in over spring break, Marinette had almost broken down in tears at the unfairness of it. Kagami had tried to console her that she would still find time to assist the other Heroes of Paris, despite her busy schedule, to which Marinette had simply laughed. “I’m not worried about _that_ ,” she’d said. “I’m worried because you can’t have any _fun_ on break!” Then she had immediately made a phone call.

Kagami smirked. What her mother didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. She surreptitiously texted her tutor. “Mother,” she began, “Max would like to work on Physics today, and he already has a lab set up for our experiment. May I go to work there?”

“Physics?” her mother asked. “Bah, very well. Perhaps this boy’s Physics can help you improve your fencing!”

“Of course, Mother,” Kagami replied, rising from the table and bowing. “Thank you, Mother.”

Returning to her room, she carefully packed her backpack with several of her textbooks as well as her tablet. After how poorly her first several interactions with Marinette had gone, she still marveled at how they had connected in the fall. After she had realized that Adrien was Cat Noir – he really needed to figure out a few more fencing moves – it was obvious that his new girlfriend, Marinette, had to be Ladybug. She had been humbled by the trust Marinette had shown in giving her the Dragon Miraculous. Then Marinette had designed a kimono for her and they had bonded over pastries while Kagami described her feelings of confusion at living as an outsider in her adopted country.

Now, Kagami had almost free rein for her break, and she had Marinette to thank for it – Marinette and Max. She still didn’t understand how Marinette convinced her mother to agree to Max as her tutor, even if they were in all the same classes and Max was a certifiable genius. Max had agreed to tutor her for a bit over the break – if she couldn’t demonstrate some improvement, her mother would never allow this to stand again. However, for most of the break, Max could give her an alibi and allow her to meet up with friends: although Marinette and Adrien were both out of the country on a business trip, Chloe had invited her to hang out with her and Sabrina over the break, and Adrien had suggested that she go to a few Kitty Section rehearsals. _Not today, unfortunately_.

She met her mother by the front door and followed her to the car. “Tatsue, to the Kanté residence, then the office,” her mother instructed the car.

“Very well, Mme Tsurugi.”

* * *

Kagami’s phone vibrated with a message from Viperion as they were pulling up in front of Max’s building. She typed a quick confirmation before getting out. She waited until the car was out of sight around the corner before ducking into the alleyway between Max’s building and the one next to it. She dropped her backpack to the ground and kicked it behind a trashcan, looking in both directions to make sure no one was in sight.

“Do you not wish to study, Kagami-San?” asked Longg, phasing out of the backpack and fixing her with a surprised look.

“On a break, Longg-Sama?” she replied, arching an eyebrow. “If I’ve learned anything from Marinette, it’s that vacations should be _enjoyed_. I wouldn’t mind getting to know Max a little better, but Viperion is waiting for us. Longg, Bring the–”

“I expected you to choose this alleyway,” Max interrupted. “The probability was about 40% higher for this alley than the one on the other side based on the tendencies of the programmer who designed your car’s artificial intelligence.”

Kagami jumped and spun around, unceremoniously grabbing Longg out of the air and hiding him behind her back as she did so. “Max!” she choked out. “I was–”

Max was leaning against the brick wall and smirking at her surprised expression. He snorted. “You were about to run off without ensuring your alibi,” he told her. “If your mother called and asked to speak to both of us, what were you going to do?”

“I was going to answer,” she retorted. “What else would I do?”

“ _You_ are not going to answer; Markov is going to answer,” he informed her. He handed her a small device. “Talk into this. It will give Markov a vocal pattern to replicate.”

She pressed a button on the side of the device, eyed it dubiously, and asked, “You’re going to redirect my calls to Markov? And he is going to pretend to be me… well enough to fool my mother. How on earth are you going to do that?”

“Markov has already analyzed your speech pattern when conversing with your mother and can duplicate it with 97% accuracy. And regarding the logistics of forwarding your calls, give me some credit. I already set up your calls to forward once; forwarding calls from your mother’s phone numbers directly to Markov will be simplicity itself.”

Kagami stared at him, thinking through his statement. “Wait… Pegasus?”

“Hey, you didn’t have to spell it out for this one!” a voice drawled from Max’s pocket as a brown head with a white mane poked out of his pocket and fixed Kagami with a languid stare.

“Hush, Kaalki,” Longg chided, phasing through Kagami’s hand and rising to hover over her shoulder. “Kagami is an intelligent young lady.”

“Psh,” scoffed Kaalki, tossing her head haughtily and looking up at Max, “not as smart as _my_ kid!”

“Um, is it okay if I go now?” Kagami asked Max, looking between the two Kwamis.

“Affirmative,” answered Max, patting Kaalki’s head back into his pocket and taking the device back. He picked up her backpack and turned back toward the entrance to the alley, calling over his shoulder, “Markov has enough to simulate your voice if your mother calls.”

“Thanks. Longg, Bring the storm!”

A moment later, Ryoku was racing across the rooftops toward the Eiffel Tower. Until she had received her miraculous, she had never realized just how enclosed and regimented her life truly was. Every minute of her day was planned out to the second. Her mother demanded absolute perfection, and anything less was unacceptable. Now, the miraculous gave her an outlet, freedom, an opportunity to experience life outside of her mother’s restrictions. She often wondered if this was why Adrien loved being Cat Noir so much. It was certainly _her_ favorite part of being Ryoku.

Just outside the Champ de Mars, Ryoku changed directions, running along the rooftops parallel to the park. Viperion was going to search the north-west part of the city while Night Bat searched the north east, leaving everything south of the Seine for her. Ryoku scanned the streets below her as she ran, looking to cover as much ground as she could. She frowned. With the poor description Night Bat had given them, it would take a miracle to find the woman they were looking for. Her outfit was always red and blue. Unfortunately, that also described Marinette’s best-selling outfit from Agreste’s spring collection! Half the women in the city would probably be wearing some combination of those colors… _Marinette would have known how to get a better description out of him_ , Ryoku thought sullenly as she ran parallel to the Seine, opposite the Louvre.

A flash of color caught her eye from a side street beside the Louvre. Ryoku frowned contemplatively and stopped to look closer. A figure in the distance appeared to be hiding behind a tree. And the figure wore red and blue. “Good enough for a closer look,” Ryoku murmured. With a shrug, she threw herself off the roof, held her arms out, shouted “Wind Dragon,” and transformed into air. In her elemental form, conscious thought became movement, and she thought herself on the other side of the river. With another thought she rematerialized on the roof of the building directly above the unknown figure.

From her vantage point, Ryoku had a better view of the person. It looked to be a blonde woman, only a year or two older than herself, wearing a sky blue skirt under a deep red form-fitting short-sleeved top. The pattern on the top didn’t match Marinette’s design, and the colors did match Night Bat’s description, but that still didn’t prove anything for her. Ryoku was about to turn away and return to her own patrol sector when she caught sight of something unusual. The woman turned to look at her, and her eyes were covered with a mask the same color as her top, with what looked like a beak protruding above the nose. Something about the woman’s appearance rang alarm bells in Ryoku’s mind. She crouched to spring, sword already in her hands.

The woman gasped and drew a sword from her back. The handle extended over a meter as she drew, turning the weapon into a naginata. Then, seeming to think better of the action, the woman opened her mouth and clapped her hands. A blinding light flooded the street, reflecting from every surface and bathing the surrounding area in brilliant white.

Ryoku’s eyes were seared by the brightness. She fell to her knees on the roof and cried out in surprise. Reaching up to rub her eyes, it took a moment for her to realize that the spots she was seeing were only in her eyes and not reality. She blinked furiously until the spots receded and she could see again. By the time she could see, however, the stranger was nowhere to be seen.

With a muttered Japanese curse, she hit the control on her sword to call Viperion. He answered almost instantly. “I… think I found something,” she reported. “I was near the Louvre when I saw a woman matching Night Bat’s description. She was wearing red and blue, had a mask, and was carrying a naginata. When I got close, she did something and blinded me.”

“Are you okay?” he asked quickly. “Are you hurt? Stay where you are!”

“I’m fine,” she replied, pushing herself back to her feet. “The blindness was only temporary. Listen… there was something familiar about her, but I can’t place what it is. I think I’ve seen it – or here – before. I’m going to check into it.”

“I’ll search along the riverfront nearby to try to pick up her trail,” Viperion said shortly.

Ryoku nodded, although he couldn’t see her. Something about the strange woman’s clothing stirred up a memory, but she knew she had never seen this woman before. It couldn’t be a business associate of her mother; to date she had relatively-little contact with the business. And yet, her mother felt like the right direction to go in the search. Perhaps her home held some answers.

Fortunately, Ryoku lived only a couple kilometers from the Louvre; a few minutes of rooftop running had her landing in the ornamental bushes lining the front of the house. Ryoku de-transformed and quietly pushed the door open. Longg slipped into her shirt pocket to find a sardine.

Kagami was about to run up to her room when she took a closer look at the large painting decorating the entryway and gasped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a reminder, Max knows all the heroes’ identities because he set up their miraculous communicators to forward messages/calls to and from their cell phones (just about every tech question regarding the Heroes can be answered with “Max”). So when Kagami isn’t transformed and Viperion texts her, her cell phone shows a message from Viperion (regardless of whether or not Luka is also transformed). And if someone calls Kagami’s cell phone while she’s transformed, she can answer the call (voice-only) on her miraculous communicator.
> 
> Kagami learned Adrien’s identity in “Running out of Time” when Cat Noir used a fencing trick on her that she recognized. And since in this universe they're not all idiots, she can put together that if Cat Noir and Ladybug are dating and Adrien is Cat Noir, then Ladybug has to be Marinette.


	5. Chapter 5

Viperion raced toward the spot where Ryoku had lost track of the woman. He wasn’t sure what he expected to find there, but it was as good a place as any to start his search. Ryoku could be impulsive sometimes, but she wasn’t reckless. That girl knew what she was doing. And this demon-woman had attacked her.

He frowned. For Ryoku to run away from a battle was… unexpected. Even if the woman had disappeared, he would have expected Ryoku to remain and try to find her again. So what could have her running off like this?

He wasn’t going to find an answer to that question until he found their enemy, the woman who had blinded Ryoku.

Ryoku was something of a mystery to him. The two of them had worked together so often by now that he could anticipate most of her responses to his instructions, as well as how she would typically fight without his prompting. In many ways, her heart song rang out as clear as a concert in his ears. And yet, in so many other ways she was an enigma. He could hear the melancholy of loneliness in her, but could not understand the cause. He could hear her competitiveness and perfectionism – a counterpoint that sometimes drowned out the sweet melody hiding under the surface and threw it into disharmony. Why the confusion in her heart? Half the time she was the fierce warrior, ready to throw herself into battle and make the criminals bleed; the other half the time her vulnerability shone through.

He had heard that unique combination in a few people before. Adrien was just one whose heart sang out with loneliness. Chloe also, he had discovered, suffered from similar loneliness. Although he had only met Kagami a handful of times, something about her song had sounded very similar. He supposed it shouldn’t have surprised him that those three wound up as friends – or that Marinette’s exuberant joy and open friendship would find such a unique way of blending with the songs of those three rich-yet-lonely hearts.

Viperion shook his head: such thoughts were best considered in his bedroom while playing his guitar, _not_ while running around Paris with his lyre!

He focused in on the riverfront below him, running along the rooftops at a little less than his maximum speed. The number of people out and about was perhaps higher than normal – it was the first day of Spring Break, and the children and families were all taking advantage of that fact to walk along the waterfront together. He could see a few people who matched the (admittedly vague) description Night Bat had given them, but none stood out to him as particularly memorable.

He was about three blocks from the Louvre when he spotted her.

The woman was standing in the middle of an otherwise-deserted apartment building parking lot. She wore a red shirt and blue skirt, and Viperion could see some sort of weapon slung over her back. Remembering Ryoku’s experience, he elected to approach her cautiously and try to find out more before activating Second Chance. Viperion stepped off the roof of the apartment building and dropped to the ground behind a dumpster, bending his knees and rolling as he landed to avoid making any noise. He came up quickly and peeked around the dumpster to see that the stranger had not reacted to his appearance. Her back was toward him, and he could see a car parked about halfway between his position and hers. He decided to chance it, walking quickly but quietly toward her.

He was about five meters away when she finally realized he was there. He focused on her song. He could hear her heartbeat, steady and fast, giving her song a tempo. The woman turned to face him, a question visible beneath the miraculous mask covering her eyes.

“Who are you?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Viperion could hear a dissonant chord coming from her heart, begging for a resolution. _But will it resolve minor or major?_

“Just one of the Heroes of Paris,” he replied. “We’re looking for a suspicious character who looks a lot like you. Should I be suspicious of _you_?”

The woman gasped and drew the sword from her back. She jerked the handle downward, and it extended two meters. Viperion heard her melody speed up to a frenetic tempo, but it would not resolve. The woman raised her weapon –a naginata, Ryoku had called it – and thrust at him, taking advantage of her increased range. Viperion spun to the side to avoid the thrust, and raised his lyre to block her follow-up slash.

He groaned inwardly: the fight had started before he had a chance to begin his Second Chance.

The woman attempted another thrust, and this time Viperion caught the blade between the strings of his lyre, twisted to the side, and yanked the handle out of her hands, sending the naginata clattering across the parking lot. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them. The woman raised her hands in front of her chest as though to clap.

Viperion’s eye was drawn to a streak of red flying through the air, leaping from the building to his left: Ryoku. His partner held her sword above her head. As she landed, she brought the sword down in a sweeping motion and shouted, “Wind Dragon!” As though her sword was cutting through the air, gusts of wind swept outward along the same plane as her sword, blowing Viperion and the stranger away from each other. Viperion twisted in midair, placed one palm on the ground, and used that small contact to pull himself down to the pavement and regain his balance, crouching on the ground on all fours. He glared up at Ryoku, still standing five meters away where she had landed.

Ryoku ignored him. “Tomoe Gozen,” she stated like an invocation, fixing the stranger with her piercing brown eyes.

Viperion frowned as he pushed himself to his feet and walked over to Ryoku. He could feel the tension, confusion, and eagerness emanating from her, throwing her song into disharmony. “What are you doing?” he muttered. “I could have stopped her!”

Ryoku put a hand on his arm without taking her eyes off the stranger. “I trust you. But now _you_ need to trust _me_.”

The stranger, meanwhile, was looking at Ryoku in shock. Her hands dropped to her sides. She hadn’t even noticed that the wind blast had knocked her back right next to her naginata. She looked between them in confusion. “How… how do you know that name?”

“Why do you look like her?” Ryoku replied, folding her arms.

“I look like her because I have the miraculous which she used.” The stranger sighed, finally reached for her naginata, and used its handle to push herself to her feet. “I am called Hato Gozen. I was charged by my mother with protecting the Dove Miraculous, the Miraculous of Purity.”

Viperion plucked a string contemplatively. “Purity and Corruption,” he observed, with a glance at Ryoku.

“I take it you have met the Bat,” Hato Gozen commented, resigned. She chuckled mirthlessly and held her upper arms tightly, swaying back and forth. “Even in Paris, I cannot get away from his influence and machinations,” she moaned. She looked up, eyes shifting between the two heroes. “The Bat and Dove Miraculous have been locked in conflict for over a millennium,” she explained. “They form a balanced pair. The Bat’s ability enhances negative characteristics in its target; the Dove’s enhances the positive. If the Dove were taken out of the equation, the Bat would have the power to plunge the world into darkness and chaos – something which he is constantly trying to do. Tomoe Gozen was a Dove Miraculous keeper. She used the Dove’s power to defend Japan from the Bat’s demon before passing the miraculous on to her daughter. It has been passed down, mother to daughter, always with the charge to keep the miraculous out of the hands of the Bat and block the Bat’s actions. So we have followed the Bat across the world, from continent to continent, using the power of the Dove to repair the damage that he causes.”

“Night Bat told us that he was here to find _you_ , to stop _you_ from unleashing a demon against Paris,” Viperion told her, strumming on his lyre. Her tune was starting to come into focus, filled with dissonance and confusion.

“That’s the name he gave you? The story he told you?” Hato Gozen barked out a laugh. “As if! He has used many names throughout the centuries. But the demon… I’m sure he told you of his magic?” Viperion nodded. “Of course he did. That is a trait our miraculous share: a predisposition toward _magie arcane_ – magic with a source other than miraculous. The Bat is drawn to dark magic; the Dove is drawn toward light magic. Summoning the demon is _not_ light magic!”

“So the light that blinded me was this… ‘light magic’,” Ryoku observed, nodding.

“I… apologize.” Hato Gozen grimaced. “I did not know who you were and did not wish to fight, especially since I did not know if you were going to side _with_ the Bat or _against_ him.”

“Your story,” Viperion began, “it sounds very much like what Night Bat told us. How can we know which of your stories is true?”

“You… cannot,” admitted Hato Gozen, frowning. “According to Paxx – my Kwami – all knowledge of the Bat and Dove was lost in the destruction of Atlantis. Previous Doves have searched for knowledge of the Atlantean miraculous, but without success.”

Ryoku gave him a look. “The painting: ‘The Great Battle off Kanagawa.’ It shows Tomoe Gozen fighting a water demon.”

Hato Gozen’s eyes went wide. “You – you know of that painting? I don’t believe it! That is one of the only depictions of a Dove – or of the demon itself – in existence! So many people are more familiar with the ‘Waves’ painting, without realizing it was based on a painting of the great battle.”

“Tomoe Gozen is one of my mother’s idols,” Ryoku explained. “She has a copy of that painting.”

Viperion nodded slowly, brows furrowed in contemplation. “Say that we believe you that this Tomoe Gozen was a Dove Miraculous holder, that she used the miraculous to fight a water demon and protect Japan. That doesn’t necessarily make _you_ good. How can we know that you and the Bat haven’t flipped sides? How can we know that he isn’t good, or that you aren’t evil?”

“What do you hear from her?” asked Ryoku, eyeing him curiously. “Can that help you decide?”

“Me?” Viperion repeated. He laughed and shook his head ruefully. “Of course you already made up your mind.”

Ryoku scoffed and gave him a look.

Viperion closed his eyes and plucked a couple strings. He frowned and readjusted his hand on the instrument before starting again. The melody he heard was tinged with sadness and fear, full of longing and confusion. And yet, he could hear a hopeful undercurrent. Perhaps… Dorian mode? He sighed and looked back at Ryoku and Hato Gozen.

“That was beautiful,” Hato Gozen breathed.

“That’s the song I hear in you,” he explained, shrugging. “I hear people’s heart-songs. Unfortunately, I don’t hear yours well since we only just met.” He sighed and turned back to Ryoku. “Her song sounds more harmonious than Night Bat’s, but is that enough for us to bet our city’s safety on it?”

Ryoku raised an eyebrow at him. “There is one way we can find out for sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Magie arcane” means “arcane magic” in Romanian.
> 
> Tomoe Gozen is a “confirmed” previous miraculous holder, but they never stated which miraculous she used. I think the implication in canon was Dragon. However, the suit and weapon didn’t quite strike me as “Dragon,” so in this universe she’s a former Dove.


	6. Chapter 6

Ryoku crouched in the space between two parked cars on the far side of the street from the location where Hato Gozen had set up to wait for Night Bat’s arrival. In spite of herself, she was almost vibrating with anticipation. Her sword was sheathed, but her fingers itched to hold it, if only to have something to keep them occupied. On the far side of the car, Viperion also crouched between two cars, remaining almost still and watching the roofs farthest from them. Uncharacteristically, his lyre was almost entirely silent.

“I don’t understand how you can be so calm at a time like this,” she whispered. Viperion simply smiled and struck a discordant chord on his lyre. “You think that’s me now, don’t you?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

They were on the main street running parallel to the Seine, a few meters from a large intersection. The sidewalk on which they crouched was surprisingly empty for the time of day on a Saturday – the first day of Spring Break no less. Their side of the street was lined with multi-story brick apartment buildings built at least 20 years ago. On the far side of the street was another sidewalk and a stretch of grass about ten meters wide that someone had declared a city park and which ended at the riverbank. That entire block was empty of buildings, though the apartment buildings started again one block to the right, just past the closest bridge. Boats were making their way up and down the river at a leisurely pace. However, due to the presence of the small park, there were no mooring posts for boats, leaving the riverfront itself clear and unobstructed. Viperion had not been happy being so close to residential buildings, but Ryoku had argued that, based on Night Bat’s location, this was the closest spot that did not have buildings next to the river _and_ which had something resembling open space in case the demon did appear.

Ryoku unsheathed her sword quietly and flicked her thumb across the handle, pulling up the screen. Without taking her eyes off Hato Gozen, she typed a quick message to Queen Bee: “Demon fight may happen soon.” She sent the message along with a location code, and didn’t have long to wait for Queen Bee’s reply. She frowned as she read it.

“Queen Bee says not to expect any help from her or the others,” Ryoku muttered without taking her eyes off their surroundings. “She says to let her know how the battle goes anyways, though.”

Viperion hummed. “That is unfortunate,” he told her. “I guess it can’t be helped. I suppose for now we’re on our own.”

Ryoku nodded curtly, scanning the rooftops around them once before returning her gaze to Hato Gozen. Hato Gozen was pacing on the far side of the intersection, her eyes constantly drifting back to the river as though expecting something to attack from there at any moment.

A streak of black caught Ryoku’s attention several blocks down the street, running across the rooftops on their side of the street. The streak flew off the roof of the building on the far side of the intersection, sailed across the street, and landed directly in front of Hato Gozen. Ryoku slipped back to place the car between herself and Night Bat while still peeking out from behind it. In her peripheral vision she could see Viperion copying the move. He moved to kneel behind her and watch over her shoulder. She tensed in anticipation, her sword held in low-ready position.

“Bat,” Hato Gozen stated, turning to face him and looking unsurprised.

“Dove,” he replied, his voice equally calm. Ryoku could see the anger flashing in his eyes as he sneered down his nose at Hato Gozen, although she was a couple centimeters taller. “My suspicion was correct: you _did_ follow me to Paris.”

“I couldn’t very well leave you alone, now, could I?” retorted Hato Gozen, rising to the challenge. “We both know how well that turned out for my great grandmother when she lost track of you after you fled from Europe to the Americas.”

“Come, come, child,” Night Bat scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. “Do not be so hard on her. Even _if_ she had intervened from the start, untested as she was, she still could not have matched my power!” He placed his hand on the pommel of his sword as it to emphasize the point.

“Yes, she was unskilled when she confronted you in America,” Hato Gozen agreed, eyes narrowing. She slid one foot back into a stronger stance. “And yet you still fled in fear. You lost to her then, and she had little practice with magic at that time. And I am more skilled now than she was then. I _have_ mastered my abilities. Poor, poor Bat: you lost to a child then, but you will lose to an adult today!”

“Have you heard enough yet?” Ryoku muttered, stealing a quick glance behind her at Viperion.

“Not just yet,” he whispered back, a calculating look in his eye, his gaze focused on Night Bat. “She was definitely telling the truth, but every little bit we learn about Night Bat now can help.”

Night Bat laughed derisively at Hato Gozen. “Is that so, little Dove?” he mocked. “Let me tell you what happened when your great grandmother turned me back and stopped my pet in New York Harbor. I did lay low for a few years in my old stomping grounds of Eastern Europe. But then I found a prime target for my Kiss in Sarajevo. Europe was already a powder keg, you see; it would have gone off anyways, even _without_ my interference. I just needed to give them a bit of a… nudge to set events in motion. One Kiss, one negative characteristic enhanced, and the world erupted into utter chaos that lasted nearly half a decade! And as more and more of the continent was drawn into the ensuing conflict, the effects of that one Kiss continued to feed me, to energize me. Eventually the whole world – Europe, Asia, Africa, even the Americas eventually – _everything_ was feeding me with its energy. If Columba hadn’t intervened when she did, who knows where it would have led? Wars, you see, can be so nourishing.”

“And yet Columba _did_ stop you then.” Hato Gozen glared at him, hands clenched into tight fists.

“Did she, little one?” Night Bat scoffed. “I was able to rest for _decades_ on the energy harvested from that one feeding. And the peace which she brokered to end the so-called ‘War to end all wars’–” Night Bat made a face “–planted the seeds of my _next_ feeding! Child, I have fought hundreds of your forebears, and they have never succeeded in truly stopping me! Oh, they may delay me temporarily, but there is always another negative characteristic available for me to exploit. In every battle, every plague, every serial killing, the Kiss and its effect has opportunities to expand further. More and more people become susceptible to my Kiss. And the more victims I can claim, the more powerful I become! And this city is rife with negative characteristics for me to exploit.”

“My great grandmother stopped you in 1917,” Hato Gozen told him, unclenching her fists and looking him calmly in the eye. “She stopped you again in ’45. Wherever you have struck, the Dove has always been there to Calm your Kiss with her Breath. You may find a victim here, but I _will_ stop you. Here and now, your reign of terror and corruption will end!”

“Hmm… I think not. No Dove has yet succeeded in defeating both myself and my pet!” Night Bat lifted his hand, closed his eyes, and started muttering under his breath. He swirled his hand in an intricate pattern.

Ryoku nudged Viperion and raised an eyebrow at him. “Convinced yet?”

He glanced over at her and nodded in agreement. “Very much so,” he confirmed.

“Start the Second Chance already,” she whispered, pushing herself up in to a sprinter’s stance.

The surface of the Seine frothed and roiled as though a hurricane was attempting to form despite the calm weather. The water churned as a golden spike rose from the river depths. A boat was pushed aside and nearly capsized as the demon’s cream-colored body broke the surface. It rose to a height of ten meters above the surface, built like a horse with a longer neck. Its four legs were planted firmly on the riverbed. It opened its mouth and roared, shaking the ground to either side of the river. The river swirled around its feet, sending waves outward in all directions.

“Second Chance!” Viperion shouted, twisting the timer on his miraculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t actually know whether my description of the “battlefield” matches up with any specific location in Paris. Any resemblance is completely unintentional.


	7. Chapter 7

“Second Chance!” Viperion shouted, twisting the timer on his miraculous

1\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft. For now, Viperion chose to stay behind cover and watch.

“Lightning Dragon!” Ryoku shouted, holding her arms out. She vanished in a golden flash and clap of thunder as a bolt of lightning arced from her position toward Night Bat.

Night Bat reacted instantly, holding out a hand toward her. His eyes flashed black, and Ryoku rematerialized with his hand around her neck. He squeezed tightly as she struggled desperately against him. Her sword fell from her slack grip, an instant before he snapped her neck and threw her body contemptuously aside. She landed with her neck at an odd angle, eyes staring sightlessly at Viperion. He closed his eyes and twisted his bracelet.

2\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

“Don’t go lightning!” Viperion shouted.

With a curt nod, Ryoku pointed her sword at Night Bat and shouted, “Lightning Dragon!” A lightning bolt lanced out at Night Bat from the sword point. Night Bat, however, held his hand out as though to catch a ball, caught the lightning as he drew his arm back, spun around, and redirected the lighting against Hato Gozen. The lightning struck her upraised naginata and coursed through her body. She fell in a crumpled heap at the water’s edge.

Viperion twisted the bracelet.

3\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Viperion called out to Ryoku, “Close the distance!” He plucked a few strings on his lyre.

Ryoku took a flying leap at Night Bat, held her sword in both hands, and brought it down at his head. Night Bat spun and whipped his own sword from its sheath and parried her strike with a single motion. Momentum carried Ryoku over his head in a flip, and she twisted in midair, landed in a crouch, and leapt into a lunge. Night Bat sidestepped the attack and countered with a slash which she avoided. Viperion turned away as they continued to duel, instead watching Hato Gozen.

Hato Gozen had by now reached the riverbank, where she leapt into the air, shouting something he didn’t understand. A pair of white wings emerged from her back, holding her aloft. The demon by now towered nearly five meters above the river surface. Opening its mouth, it breathed forth a stream of blue energy, freezing everything it touched. Hato Gozen pumped her wings to fly above the ice breath and clapped her hands. Viperion shielded his eyes against the blinding white light that seemed to emanate from her entire body. The demon roared in pain, stomping around blind. The Seine overflowed its banks, sending a boat careening straight at Viperion. He glanced over to find Ryoku pressing Night Bat backward, even as the water level reached their ankles. The boat was a handful of meters away from Viperion. An instant before it would have struck him, Viperion twisted his bracelet.

4\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Turning to Ryoku, Viperion shouted, “Sword fight!” Without waiting for her reply he bellowed across the street, “Don’t blind it!”

Once more, Ryoku dueled Night Bat to a standstill. Once more, Hato Gozen gave herself wings and flew over the demon’s head. The demon roared its fury, lifted its front legs, and slammed them down, sending waves crashing in all directions. Hato Gozen drew back her naginata and threw with all her might. The blade struck the demon’s flank and stayed embedded in it. The demon howled its pain and shot a blast of air toward Hato Gozen, sending her flying off-course to where she struck and flew through the side of a building.

Viperion was about to run in and face the demon himself when Ryoku cried out in surprise. Night Bat had tripped her and now stood over her with his sword at her throat. Viperion threw his lyre full-strength, knocking the sword away. Ryoku swung with her sword, but Night Bat evaded the attack, grabbed her face, and muttered, “Kiss of Death.” Ryoku screamed in terror. The sound continued to reverberate in his ears long after Viperion had twisted his bracelet to reset the Second Chance.

5\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

If he could help Hato Gozen defeat the demon quickly, perhaps he could then help Ryoku overpower Night Bat. Turning to Ryoku, Viperion shouted, “Sword fight!” Without waiting for her reply he charged across the street, shouting, “Don’t blind it!”

Viperion held his lyre like a discus and launched it at the demon’s head without breaking stride. The lyre struck its head and ricocheted away from Viperion a moment before Hato Gozen took flight. The demon shook its head in annoyance before fixing its eyes back on Hato Gozen. She muttered something under her breath and sent a bolt of lightning at the demon’s head. The demon stomped a foot and a wave crested in front of it and froze into a wall of ice, shielding it from the lightning. The ice wall shattered, sending shards of ice in all directions, including directly through the hulls of several nearby boats which started to sink.

Hato Gozen held her naginata above her head and shouted, “Calming Breath!” before striking the demon’s head with the flat of the blade. The demon roared and thrashed around, sending wave after wave of water over the riverbank.

Ryoku screamed behind him, only for the sound to suddenly cut out. Viperion looked to see that Ryoku must have been struck by debris; a piece of boat wreckage lay over her legs, and Night Bat was just withdrawing the sword he had stabbed through her back.

Viperion bit back his anger. He twisted his bracelet once more.

6\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Throwing his lyre did not work. Defeating the demon first did not work. Perhaps Night Bat was the key. Turning to Ryoku, Viperion shouted, “Sword fight!” Without waiting for her reply he called out to Hato Gozen, “Don’t blind it!”

Viperion raced after Ryoku towards Night Bat, testing his lyre in his left hand. Ryoku leapt, raising her sword to strike at Night Bat’s head, only to have the blow parried. She landed in front of him and slashed at his neck, which he ducked. Viperion sprang into a flip over both their heads, contorting his body in midair to spin around and land facing Night Bat’s back. Night Bat sprang forward, lunging at Ryoku’s chest. She parried, spun around, and counterattacked with a horizontal slash. Viperion aimed a kick at Night Bat’s back, which landed as he sidestepped to evade Ryoku’s sword. Night Bat was thrown to the ground but his body was engulfed in fog an instant later.

“Wind Dragon!” yelled Ryoku, with a sweep of her sword.

The fog was blown away, but Night Bat was already on his feet. He pointed a finger at Viperion, muttered a few words, and a beam of solid blackness struck Viperion in the chest. He was flung backward into a building’s wall, even as the demon bellowed in rage and smashed the same building with its front leg. Viperion closed his eyes, and a moment before he would have been buried in the rubble, twisted his bracelet.

7\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

This time, Viperion sent a message to all the heroes. Then he simply sat back and watched, plucking at his lyre while considering the situation. Ryoku used Water Dragon to send a deluge of water from the river crashing over Night Bat, who transmuted the water into mist, obscuring himself from view. Hato Gozen flew directly at the demon, pushing it back, out of the river and between two buildings on the opposite bank. The demon stomped and roared, and the buildings shook at its flanks struck them.

Viperion strummed contemplatively, one eye on the timer. Nothing had worked so far. Ryoku could duel Night Bat for months without defeating him because she could not match his magic. Hato Gozen could defeat the demon easily enough, but could not contain its damage. And without Ladybug present – according to his watch, she and Cat Noir were probably somewhere over the Atlantic at the moment and unreachable – excessive collateral damage was likely to be permanent. None of the other heroes had responded to his message or arrived, and he was running out of time.

He frowned at the lyre while attempting to find just the right tune to harmonize with Ryoku’s heart song. Normally he did this on his guitar rather than his lyre. A pity he couldn’t switch inst–

Huh.

He twisted his miraculous.

8\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Viperion shouted, “Switch targets!”

Ryoku immediately changed course and ran toward the demon. She pointed her sword at its head and cried, “Lightning Dragon!” A bolt of lightning arced at the demon, which once again raised an ice wall to protect itself. The lightning struck and shattered the ice wall before deflecting and grounding through the bridge.

Hato Gozen meanwhile gave the demon a final look before turning back to face Night Bat. She swung her naginata at his head, a strike which he parried effortlessly before closing the distance within the reach of her handle. Hato Gozen retracted the naginata’s handle and lifted it as a sword in time to meet his blade. She shifted positions slightly, turning his momentum against him and bringing her elbow around to hit him in the face. Night Bat fell back a step but swung his wrist in a circular motion, sending a swirl of dark energy at her. She spread her fingers wide the instant it would have struck, dissipating the energy.

A bellow followed by a crashing sound drew Viperion’s attention back to the battle between Ryoku and the demon. Ryoku stood in front of the demon, hacking at its front leg, while the demon slammed its head and front legs into the nearby buildings, trying in vain to get away from Ryoku’s attack.

With a nod and a frown, Viperion twisted his bracelet once more.

9\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Viperion shouted, “Switch targets!” and leapt to follow Ryoku, trusting Hato Gozen to subdue Night Bat on her own.

“Last time you tried lightning and it just made the demon mad,” Viperion called as he caught up to Ryoku. “This time try water.”

“Right,” she replied. Pointing her sword at the river she called, “Water Dragon!” A wave rose from the river where she pointed. She raised her sword, and the wave rose higher, towering over the surrounding buildings. With a cry she swung her sword and brought the wave crashing down over the demon.

The demon spun its neck, and the wave crashed around it, reformed, expanded, and spread outward, crashing into the buildings on either riverbank. The closest apartment building shuddered as its foundation washed away and it collapsed on top of the two heroes. Ryoku pushed Viperion out of the way of a falling wall section, moments before it crushed her instead. Pushing through his shock, he reset the miraculous.

10\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Viperion followed Ryoku and shouted, “Switch targets!” Then, just for Ryoku, he added, “Try turning to water.”

Nodding curtly, Ryoku leapt twenty meters in the air, held her arms out and said, “Water Dragon.” She disappeared into a cloud of water which fell down around the demon, roiling the water around it. The demon grunted and swung its neck. The falling water stopped, condensed into a vaguely-human shape, and was sent flying through the air across the city. A moment later, thunder cracked as Ryoku rematerialized beside him.

“So water isn’t going to work,” he observed wryly. “How about wind?”

Ryoku rolled her eyes and shook her head. Then she spun her sword in a tight circle, and said, “Wind Dragon.” A wind funnel blew out from her sword and struck the demon, which simply braced its legs to ride out the attack.

Viperion frowned and looked over at Hato Gozen, who was dueling Night Bat in close quarters. With a flick of her wrist, she sent his sword clattering across the pavement. The moment he was disarmed she slammed her shoulder into his chest, knocking him to the ground. He fell, and she pounced. As her sword came down, however, he drew a small knife from his boot and slashed her forearm. She dropped her sword, which he caught in his other hand and quickly flipped around before cutting off her head.

With a groan, Viperion reset the miraculous.

11\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Viperion shouted, “Switch targets!” He raced to catch up with Ryoku, rubbing his forehead as he went. He had used this many Second Chances before; the final battle against Hawk Moth, it had taken him twelve to finally work his way through all of Volpina’s illusions. The longer it went, however, the harder it became to keep track of what worked and what didn’t. He and Ryoku were just passing Hato Gozen. Under his breath he muttered, “Watch out for his boot knife.”

They had just arrived at the river bank when Viperion remembered. “Nothing else has worked yet,” he called to Ryoku. “Try turning to wind this time.”

Ryoku immediately called, “Wind Dragon!” and held her arms out. An instant later she disappeared in a gust of wind, and the wind picked up. It slammed into the demon’s flank, and the demon stumbled as it tried to regain its footing. No sooner had it braced itself than the wind on that side died down, only to pick up again on the other side. The demon braced itself once more, but was blown over into the water. As it struck, it kicked out with the legs on one side and sent sheets of hail in all directions, tearing through buildings and vehicles as though they were made of tissue paper.

Viperion frowned, holding up his lyre to give himself some meager cover from the hail. On the other side of the street, Hato Gozen was faring well against Night Bat, using the distraction of the hail to knock him to the ground, deflecting his knife to one side easily. Then Night Bat disappeared within a cloud of fog.

Both Night Bat and the demon were defeated, but at what cost? Viperion twisted the miraculous again.

12\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Viperion followed Ryoku and shouted, “Switch targets!” As they ran past Hato Gozen, he told her, “He has a knife in his boot.”

He stopped at the riverbank and looked at Ryoku, poised to attack. When she gave him a look, he shook his head and frowned. “Nothing has worked yet,” he explained in frustration. “None of your powers are enough to defeat the demon alone.”

Ryoku nodded calmly and put a hand on his arm. “If none of my storm powers can do it independently, perhaps it is time to test Longg’s _other_ power.” She closed her eyes and held her arms out wide. “Storm Dragon!”

Viperion shielded his eyes from the wind that picked up around him. The wind blew upward, thunder cracked, and Viperion felt raindrops land in his hair. He looked up to see a swirling mass of storm cloud with lightning crackling within. The storm cloud darkened, and the wind picked up, blowing underneath the demon’s torso and lifting it into the air. As the beast was pulled from the water, lightning arced from the storm cloud and struck the demon’s horn, causing it to convulse. The wind ebbed, the demon’s limp body fell into the river, and Ryoku rematerialized ten meters above the river surface.

Viperion whooped in triumph and turned to follow the end of Hato Gozen’s duel. She had once more disarmed Night Bat, who looked to be injured, and he was just about to summon the fog and escape. Viperion threw his lyre at Night Bat’s head, but Night Bat vanished an instant before the lyre would have struck.

Behind him, he heard a deafening roar, followed by a splash. Looking back at where the demon had fallen, he could see that the water had revived it. Ryoku, however, was nowhere to be seen. Viperion dove into the river searching for her. He dodged a stomping foot and swam deeper, all the way to the bottom of the river. At last he saw Ryoku. She hadn’t been crushed by the demon’s feet, but she was not moving.

A glance at his wrist showed him running out of time. Without hesitation he twisted the miraculous back to the beginning.

13\. Hato Gozen drew the sword from her back, turning toward the river. With a downward jerk, the handle extended to full naginata length as she raced for the river. Ryoku was already breaking cover, charging Night Bat, sword held aloft.

Before she was too far away, however, Viperion caught Ryoku’s arm and dragged her back behind the car. He asked her, “Last time you used Storm Dragon to transform _into_ a storm. Afterward you seemed to have passed out. What does Storm Dragon do?”

“It worked?” she repeated, staring at him in shock. She shook her head to refocus. “Longg told me it takes intense concentration and strength to maintain the combined Storm powers at the same time. He warned me that the strain could prove too great, especially to one as inexperienced as I am.”

Viperion flinched as the car they were hiding behind was swept away by a tidal wave which instantly turned to ice. “So Storm Dragon can defeat the demon, but not without a price,” he murmured. He turned to Ryoku, squeezed her shoulder, and said, “I really wish Bengalia was here right now, but I know what we need to do.” Then he reset the timer for what he hoped would be the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, there are four different ways for a miraculous holder to fly in this universe, of which I’ve used three so far. First is the Eagle Miraculous power. Second is by having the Butterfly Miraculous grant that ability. Third is magic, which is what Hato Gozen uses. Fourth is with one of the potion power-ups. All have their benefits and uses depending on the situation.


	8. Chapter 8

Ryoku raced out from behind the parked car they had sheltered behind, her sword held in both hands above her head. Her eyes found Night Bat, who had yet to notice her or react to her sudden appearance. Closer to the river, just beyond Night Bat’s position, Hato Gozen had already moved to fight the demon. She drew her sword from its sheath on her back, jerked it downward to extend the handle to naginata length, and shifted her grip.

The only thing on Ryoku’s mind was to make a quick strike against Night Bat and end his threat quickly. If she could defeat him, perhaps the demon would disappear also – even if it didn’t, she could at least help Hato Gozen fight it. Her quickest attack would be Lightning Dragon, and she shifted her sword to point at Night Bat, opened her mouth, and shouted–

“Switch targets!”

Only months of experience fighting alongside him prepared her to obey Viperion without hesitation. Closing her mouth and holding back her Dragon power, Ryoku turned slightly to find the demon’s location. Viperion was at her side, lyre held in one hand, and they raced across the intersection. They passed Hato Gozen running the other direction, back toward Night Bat, and Viperion muttered, “He has a knife in his boot.”

On the riverbank Ryoku stopped and stared up at the demon, weighing her options. As if reading her thoughts, Viperion told her, “Go Storm Dragon, pull it out of the water, and don’t let it fall back into the river!”

As far as she knew, she had never used Storm Dragon before, but now was not the time to ask questions. Clearly this wasn’t the first time he’d told her to use it. She nodded curtly, held her arms out, and called, “Storm Dragon!” Electricity crackled in her eyes and lightning coursed across the bridge of her nose. The sensation of weightlessness she associated with Wind Dragon took hold of her body, lifting her into the air. In a flash she shifted state into a cloud. The potential of this form was absolutely exhilarating.

Ryoku thought about lifting the demon between her hands, and wind gusts built on either side of the demon’s body, meeting beneath its torso and blowing upward, gripping the demon firmly and pushing it aloft. The demon roared its displeasure and sent a sheet of hail at Storm-Ryoku. She felt the hail strikes as nothing more than so many pinpricks, absorbing the water from the hail and allowing it to build the strength of her own storm.

By this time, the demon was fully out of the water, held aloft by the gale-force winds billowing up from below it. It squirmed and wriggled against the wind which held it captive, but Ryoku forced the air pressure higher. The demon remained trapped in her vise-like “grip,” thrashing helplessly.

Ryoku thought about lightning, and a bolt arced from her storm into the demon through the horn projecting upward from its head. Lightning coursed from the demon’s head through its body and grounded through one foot into the river below. The demon convulsed and shook, but Ryoku maintained her grip on its body, pouring more and more effort into the wind holding it tight. Again and again she lashed the demon with lightning. Again and again the demon convulsed as the lightning arced through it to find a grounding source in the river. Finally, the demon’s body went limp.

Ryoku blew, and pushed the demon as far from the river as she could, until it hovered a meter above the street that ran alongside the river. Only then did she allow the wind holding the demon up to abate. The demon’s body fell to the ground with a crash. The building next to it shook from the impact, but it remained standing.

Her strength failing, Ryoku let out a scream and lashed the demon’s body one last time, expending all her remaining force in a last, earth-shattering bolt of lightning. Lightning coursed up and down the demon’s unmoving body. Then she allowed the water she had picked up to fall into the river as she returned to human form.

The last thing she saw as she fell from the sky was the river rushing up to meet her. Before striking the surface she passed out.

* * *

The next sensation of which Ryoku was aware was that she was sitting up with her back against something that shifted gently. Soft string music was playing somewhere in the distance. Something was wrong. Her eyes flew open and she looked around wildly. The music stopped and a pair of strong hands gripped her shoulders. She thrashed against the grip, which suddenly released her. She scrambled away on her hands and knees and looked back to find Viperion sitting with his back against the apartment building, his lyre sitting next to his hand.

“I’m glad you’re finally awake,” Viperion told her, smiling. He raised a hand to push his damp hair out of his face. “I was worried you might be out for a while after that. You did say that Storm Dragon takes a lot of energy.”

She coughed and shook her head, resting it in one hand, fighting against the beginnings of a headache. “What… what happened?” she finally gasped, once the throbbing in her forehead had abated somewhat.

Viperion pulled a water bottle from somewhere and tossed it to her. “I suppose you might have had enough of water after turning into a cloud,” he observed, chuckling. “The simple answer is: we won. You took out the demon with almost no collateral damage. While you did that, Hato Gozen dueled Night Bat to a standstill.” He nodded toward a spot just out of Ryoku’s line of sight.

Ryoku turned to see Hato Gozen pacing while fidgeting with the naginata she still held in one hand. The other hand held a rag to her shoulder; Ryoku could see a bloodstain seeping through the rag. Hato Gozen’s brow was furrowed in frustration as she stared at the ground in front of her. Turning to scan her surroundings, Ryoku realized they were alone. The body of the demon had disappeared from the spot where she had deposited it. The sidewalk was largely deserted as people seemed to have abandoned the area to give them a wide berth.

“Where is Night Bat?” she demanded, turning on Viperion accusingly.

“He… escaped,” replied Viperion, grimacing ruefully and running a hand through his hair.

“What?” Ryoku stared at him in disbelief. “Why didn’t you reset your Second Chance and capture him?” she asked incredulously.

“Do you think I didn’t _try_?” he retorted, smacking his lyre on the ground next to him. Ryoku flinched. “I _tried_ to do it – I tried _everything_ to capture him – but I just couldn’t.”

“Why not?” she demanded, glaring at him.

“I could either stop him… or save your life. If I helped Hato Gozen capture him, I might have been too late to get you out of the water: you passed out every time you used Storm Dragon. Second Chance had almost timed out and I couldn’t risk your life on a single chance to save you. So I had to make a choice. I chose to save you and allow him to escape.”

Ryoku put her palms on the ground behind herself, leaned back, and closed her eyes for a moment. She took a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. At length she opened her eyes, looked back at him calmly, and asked, “How many?”

“Thirteen to figure out our strategy,” answered Viperion. “I tried four ways to end the Night Bat fight soon enough to get to you before time ran out, but I came up short every time. This was try number eighteen.”

She nodded, frowning. Excoriating him for Night Bat’s escape after going through so many Second Chances would do neither of them any good. “I wish we could have captured Night Bat,” she told him at last. “That could mean trouble eventually.” She smiled hesitantly and shifted to sit next to him with her back against the building. “But thank you for saving my life.”

Viperion smiled back and exhaled. “What are friends for?”

Ryoku leaned into his side slightly and looked up as Hato Gozen’s shadow fell over them. Hato Gozen pulled the rag away from her shoulder, inspected it, and tossed it aside. “I suppose I should thank you for helping me today. And for believing me. Unfortunately, the Bat getting away – again – complicates matters,” she declared, frowning in irritation.

Ryoku pushed herself weakly to her feet – Viperion stood up at the same time and helped her find the building for support. She fixed her eyes on Hato Gozen and told her, “After all of this, the Heroes of Paris now know what we are up against with Night Bat. If he tries this again in Paris, we _will_ be ready.”

Hato Gozen nodded, a troubled look in her eyes. “So what now?”

“Do you think he will stay in Paris?” Viperion asked. “Nothing I heard during the fight indicated his intentions one way or the other.”

With a shrug, Hato Gozen answered, “I couldn’t tell you why he goes anywhere. I do think something drew him to Paris, and I think he plans to stay, but I don’t know.”

Ryoku glanced down at her communicator to see a new message from Queen Bee. “If that is the case, you are welcome to stay for now,” Ryoku told her. “Queen Bee has arranged a room for you at Le Grand Paris for as long as you stay in Paris. It will be ready for you as soon as we get to the hotel. And if Night Bat moves on, one of our friends has the ability to send you anywhere on the planet instantly.”

“Thank you,” replied Hato Gozen. She smiled. “For now, I think I will take you up on that offer.”


	9. Chapter 9

Night Bat’s head felt like it was splitting apart. Somehow this Dove had defeated him! The thought ground in his mind. He had been defeated by a Dove! Of course, this time the Dove had had help from other miraculous users. If Viperion and Ryoku had not turned on him and intervened, he would certainly have had time to use his Kiss of Death. Because they had, he had been forced to duel that pesky Dove, a duel for which he had been unprepared. She had taken advantage of his weakness and distraction and succeeded in wounding him – even if he had gotten in a few good strikes of his own. Unfortunately, he had been forced to expend so much energy in the fight that the time was growing short for him to reenergize.

He forced his eyes open and took in his surroundings. He was in a dimly-lit room lying on a table. A man in a white coat with bright red hair and wire-rim glasses stood over him, steadily stitching up a slash wound stretching across his chest of which Night Bat was only now finally becoming aware. He winced involuntarily as the doctor tugged on the thread at the edge of the wound.

“Who… who are you?” he rasped, pushing himself up slightly and looking into the man’s face.

The doctor stopped what he was doing, looked up slowly from his work, schooled his features, and replied, “I am simply a doctor tending a patient. I don’t need to know any more about you than that; you don’t need to know more about me than that you need me to stitch you up. Now hold still.”

Night Bat collapsed back against the table and forced himself to breath normally. In all the centuries of his life, he was no stranger to pain, no stranger to the medical “arts.” He had been injured in battle against a Dove in Transylvania during the Middle Ages, and had only survived thanks to the timely intervention of a traveling Venetian merchant and his barber – he had, of course, repaid the man’s kindness by drawing out the plague he carried to speed up the healing process. That plague had spread through Venice like a fire on the barber’s return. Medicine had certainly come a long way since then. But nothing beat the Kiss of Death for its ability to heal and strengthen him.

He eyed the doctor appraisingly. Perhaps this one could grant him some strength. Once he had served his purpose here, of course.

The doctor shifted his attention to a stab in Night Bat’s thigh – the Dove had feinted and evaded his defense for just a moment that time. Cataloguing his injuries, Night Bat could feel blood oozing from another cut on his cheek. He had suffered worse injuries in battle against Doves before; his trip to Japan nearly 600 years earlier had almost ended in utter disaster before that Dove shifted targets to confront his demon. Of course, that Dove had possessed far greater skill and experience than her most recent successor – decades of practice across southeast Asia before their final showdown had honed her into a fearsome warrior whom all her opponents had to respect. What had this Dove done yet to compare.

And yet, he had to give some grudging respect to this latest Dove. She would be a formidable opponent, especially if she allied with these self-proclaimed Heroes of Paris.

He leaned back and pondered his situation. He could certainly continue his efforts to eradicate the Dove once and for all, but now a new possibility presented itself. Destruction: what might he accomplish if he could combine the powers of Destruction and Corruption? Perhaps the combination would give him a virtually-unlimited supply of energy through his Kiss of Death. The possibilities could be endless…

A phone rang on a counter against the far wall, and the doctor stopped what he was doing long enough to retrieve it. He listened silently for a minute, responded briefly, and wordlessly passed the phone to Night Bat.

“So you are the Night Bat,” a mechanically-distorted voice spoke.

“What do you know of me, Robot?” he replied evenly, surreptitiously looking around the room. He noticed a small protrusion from the ceiling near one corner and fixed his gaze on it.

“Not bad,” the voice commented. “I know some things about you. I know you are not a fan of the Heroes of Paris. I know you and this Dove hero are rivals. I know that you failed to defeat the Dove yesterday.”

“I suppose I have you to thank for my present… accommodations?” asked Night Bat.

“That is correct.”

“Are you looking for gratitude? I’m afraid that I am fresh out.”

“Not gratitude,” the voice replied. “Allies. I will give you a chance to defeat your Dove once and for all, to take revenge on Viperion and Ryoku for this defeat. In exchange, you work with me.”

Night Bat scoffed. “No, thanks. I don’t work for anyone. I work alone.”

“And how did that work out for you yesterday?” observed the voice. “You’re used to fighting a single miraculous user; Paris has a dozen of them. If you are going to defeat this team of miraculous heroes, you need a team of your own.”

“And you have a team?” Night Bat asked dubiously.

“I’m putting one together. But it needs a leader.”

 _Interesting_. Night Bat smiled coldly. “I think we can come to an understanding.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may recall that in “The Fashion Disaster” I implied that Tikki “created” a couple outbreaks of the Black Death/Bubonic Plague as revenge for the death of Joan of Arc. That is a difference between the Ladybug and Bat Miraculous: the Ladybug can create a plague; the Bat can only enhance an existing one.


End file.
